Get Rid Of Belly Fat: 5 Tips For Flatter Abs

Every woman is dreaming about a nice silhouette that loads you with energy and confidence. Every woman wants to look good in any clothes she’s on and feel comfortable on the beach in the swimsuit. Working out is not just good for your appearance, but also for your health. For example, the visceral fat that forms around your stomach is not just hard to get rid of, but is also dangerous. It appears between your organs and secretes proteins that can launch chronic inflammation, provoking heart diseases, diabetes, or cancer.

If you want to know whether you carry too much abdominal fat, an easy way to find it out is to wrap a measuring tape around your hip bones. If the tape is showing more than 35 inches, you should think about getting rid of the unhealthy fat. However, regardless of the number, you should do some abs exercises, thus, your body will be more toned and more healthy. Don’t worry, losing belly fat is not that complicated. You should adopt a healthy diet with regular exercises and you will see the results in no time. By summer, you’ll be the sexiest on the beach.

Fight Fat With Food
The secret to a beautiful body lies in your plate. Avoid foods containing a high amount of saturated fat and keep your calories at an acceptable level. Also, it was proven that certain products launch the fat burning process, hence, you get rid of excess visceral fat and sculpt your dream body.

In contrast to saturated fats, that are unhealthy, the monounsaturated fatty acids, or MUFAs, are healthy fats. In the research in the journal “Diabetes Care” was proven that people who consumed 25% of their daily calories from MUFAs had no visceral fat. On the other hand, the group that consumed fewer MUFAs and more carbs gained belly fat. A great MUFA-rich product is the olive oil. It can be added in many meals. Avocado, nuts are also great sources of MUFAs. Of all the nuts, the pine nuts contain polyunsaturated fatty acids, which, in turn, contain 2 hormones that provide the feeling of satiety. Eat 1 ounce of pine nuts 20 minutes before eating your main meal, therefore, your will avoid overeating.

Low-Glycemic-Index Foods
Stress releases a hormone, called cortisol, which favors the gaining of visceral fat. Avoid consuming products which are high on the glycemic index (GI). The glycemic index ranks carbohydrates on a scale from 0 to 100 based on how quickly and how much they raise blood sugar levels after consumption. These products transform into sugar quickly making your blood sugar escalate, therefore, releasing cortisol when glucose levels crash. A frequent escalation and decrease of the blood sugar levels can cause insulin resistance, which leads to type 2 diabetes. Low-glycemic foods, such as beans, lentils, have a rating of 55 or less, and they keep the cortisol level stable. High-GI foods include white rice and potatoes.

Green Tea
In 2012, a study in the “Journal of Functional Foods” proved that people who consumed one and a half cups of green tea containing 609 milligrams of catechins (a group of antioxidants that burn fat cells) daily for 12 weeks got rid by 16 times more visceral fat compared to those who drank green tea without the catechins. To reach the same results at home, you should drink 2-4 cups of store-bought green tea per day (different types of tea contain 160 to 470 milligrams of catechins per cup).

Dairy
When the body lacks calcium, it releases a hormone which makes the body to store belly fat. An adult needs 1.000 milligrams of calcium per day. By consuming the daily dose, our body stops storing belly fat. In a recent study in the “Obesity Research” was proved that calcium from dairy sources has a more beneficial effect than dairy from other products. As a recommendation, you could eat low-fat Greek yogurt as a snack. Only 6 ounces of this yogurt contains almost 20% of the recommended daily calcium dose. However, any other low-fat dairy product is acceptable.

Single Crunch
To get rid of belly fat, you should combine power training with cardio. Therefore, the core exercises will strengthen your abdominals, but the cardio exercises (running, walking, biking) will burn the fat that lies beneath them. In a study from Duke University was proved that people who did moderate cardiovascular exercises for 30 minutes per day, six days per week, hardly gained any abdominal fat during 8 months. Participants that opted for a more intensive cardio training (jogging) observed better results, reducing their visceral fat by 7%. For an even better result, alternate between high- and low-intensity cardio exercises for 30 minutes. This type of training is called the interval training.

As mentioned above, cardio training needs to be complemented by power training. Do the weight training before or after cardio. Add 2-3 power workouts on nonconsecutive days. People start gaining fat as they age, this is a natural process. However, by working out, you tone your muscles and slow down the visceral fat production. The University of Minnesota performed a study that proved that overweight women who did 2 days of power training per week, working out the major muscle groups, gained 67% less belly fat over 2 years compared to women that didn’t do power workouts frequently.